WORLD: Rabbis who ran 'Soprano' syndicate are held by FBI

Friday 24 July 2009 09:00 BST

Dozens of New Jersey politicians, officials and prominent rabbis have been arrested in an FBI swoop on a Sopranos-style syndicate accused of bribery, corruption, money laundering and human organ trafficking.

Three city mayors, two state politicians and a grand rabbi were among the 44 suspects arrested in one of the biggest crackdowns on organised white-collar crime.

The 10-year investigation, Operation Bid Rig, uncovered corruption and an international multi-million-dollar money-laundering ring stretching from New York to Israel and run through charities operated by rabbis.

State assembleyman Daniel Van Pelt

The mayor of Hoboken, Peter Cammarano, who only took office three weeks ago, was taken into custody yesterday by federal agents with the mayors of Secaucus and Ridgefield. State assembleyman Daniel Van Pelt was among politicians and officials held.

Ed Kahrer, an FBI special agent leading the inquiry, said the high-level arrests showed corruption was a "cancer" in the state, which is synonymous with organised crime and the Mafia as depicted in the hit television series.

He said: "New Jersey's corruption problem is one of the worst, if not the worst, in the nation. It has become ingrained in its political culture."

Investigators used an informant within the close-knit Syrian Jewish community to infiltrate political and religious circles.

The man, who had a previous conviction for bank fraud, posed as a property developer in a sting which saw him agree bribes with officials in return for public building contracts and permits. They met in restaurants, car parks and even lavatories, officials said.

Acting state attorney Ralph Marra said: "The politicians put themselves up for sale. The victims are the average citizens and the honest business people in this state. They don't have a chance in this culture of corruption."

The complex web of corruption and back-handers led the informant to a separate money-laundering network run by rabbis who operated between Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Israel. They laundered around $3 million for the undercover witness between June 2007 and this month, according to investigators.

Allegedly involved are Saul Kassin, chief rabbi of a large Syrian Jewish synagogue in Brooklyn, and three other leading rabbis. The investigation also uncovered Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn, who is accused of conspiring to broker the sale of a human kidney for a transplant.

Mr Marra said: "His business was to entice vulnerable people to give up a kidney for $10,000 which he would turn around and sell for $160,000."